Investing in impactful startups at Cherry Ventures and co-founded krisenchat, a free 24/7 crisis counseling service for young people via WhatsApp. 500+ counselors helped in 150,000+ crisis situations since 2020.
Julius de Gruyter co-founded krisenchat in 2020 when suicide rates among young people reached crisis levels during lockdowns. His platform now handles 150,000+ crisis situations annually with 500+ trained counselors. This hands-on experience building a social impact startup informs how de Gruyter evaluates investment opportunities at Cherry Ventures.
Beyond his investment work, Julius de Gruyter continues scaling krisenchat as a 24/7 crisis counseling service through WhatsApp that reaches teenagers when they need help most. De Gruyter looks for founders who solve real problems while building sustainable businesses that can grow without compromising their mission.
You'll see Julius de Gruyter's playbook for building mission-driven companies that scale profitably. Julius will show you how krisenchat achieved product-market fit in mental health, his strategies for recruiting and training counselors, and his framework for measuring both social impact and business metrics. How do you balance doing good with building a business that survives?
Join Julius de Gruyter at How to Web Conference 2025 to explore building technology that creates genuine social impact.
Other featured speakers
Felix Martinez
Principal @ Seedcamp
Felix Martinez sources and supports early-stage startups at Seedcamp, Europe's leading seed-stage venture capital fund that has invested in over 490 companies including unicorns like UiPath, Wise, Revolut, wefox, Pleo, Sorare, Grover, viz.ai, and Synthesia.
Akis Bratsos
Partner @ Lakestar
Akis Bratsos is a Partner at Lakestar, one of Europe’s leading venture capital firms, where he focuses on investment opportunities in automation, infrastructure software, and healthcare.
Karol Szubstarski
Partner @ OTB Ventures
Karol Szubstarski specializes in Series A funding for breakthrough deep tech companies at OTB Ventures, a leading pan-European fund managing over €300 million in assets across SpaceTech, Enterprise Automation & AI, FinTech Infrastructure, and Cybersecurity sectors.
Radu Georgescu
Founding Partner @ Gecad Ventures
Radu Georgescu is a renowned Romanian serial entrepreneur and investor with over 30 years of experience founding and scaling companies in software, internet, and e-commerce sectors.